Allagash Hugh Malone. There, I said it. I’d never had it before, though I had seen it in liquor stores. It was just that the price kept me away; in the bottle it was running around 14 bucks for the 750ML. That’s up there if you ask me for a beer of this style. OK, you are asking me, what style is Allagash Hugh Malone? The brewery calls it a Belgian IPA, though of course it’s not brewed in Belgium, it’s brewed in Portland, Maine.

Maine, of course, is part of New England. And as I found myself at my local Taco Mac one fine Sunday afternoon (I seem to do that a lot, don’t I?), I also found that they were offering Allagash Hugh Malone on tap. I was there to watch the New England Patriots play the Miami Dolphins. The Pats were victorious, and in so doinf won the AFC East for the umpteenth time in umpteen years. A celebration was in order, and so I splurged on a glass of Allagash Hugh Malone. From New England.

Allagash says of the beer on their website:

Allagash Hugh Malone Ale balances powerful hop aromas and bitterness with an understated malty sweetness to create a wonderful addition to our Tribute Series.

This year's Hugh Malone begins with a grain bill featuring a blend of Maine grown barley, imported Pilsner, and raw wheat malt. At the beginning of run off, we add a portion of Warrier (sic) hops to the sweet wort in the kettle; a technique known as "first wort hopping". As the boil begins, a generous amount of Nugget hops are added for bittering. Later, in the whirlpool, the beer is hopped with a blend of Centennial, Cascade, Mosiac (sic) and Chinook for aroma. A similar blend is used, post fermentation, to lend additional hop character to the finished beer. The result is a complex brew with a malty palate, intense hop aromas, pronounced bitterness and a pleasantly dry finish.

I guess we’ll attribute the spelling errors on Allagash’s site to a few too many Hugh Malones. Anyway, I say that I splurged on this one because it was expensive on tap just as in the bottle, a hefty $9.25 for an 11-ounce glass. That’s pretty expensive for a 7.8% IPA. OK, Allagash says a Belgian-style IPA. They do seem to change the beer up from year to year as well. Back to the price, though, just why is that beer so expensive anyway, and why the 11-ounce short pours?

It all has to do with keg size and the amount the brewery charges for that keg. There are 4 basic sizes of beer kegs to consider. Breweries measure their production in barrels of 31 gallons, but they don’t sell their beer in that size container. Most brewers sell beer in the half barrel, which is a 15.5 gallon keg, and this is the most common for retail sales. The next size down is the quarter barrel, which has the same diameter as the half barrel but is half as tall and holds 7.5 gallons. A slim quarter barrel is also available that holds just as much. Finally, there is the pony keg, which is popular with home brewers and holds about 5 and a quarter gallons.

Allagash says sell Hugh Malone in pony kegs (they say so on their website), and many specialty brews these days come in these small kegs for which the brewer charges a good amount of money, often as much as they charge for a half barrel. A half barrel holds 1984 ounces, or about 110 servings averaging 18 ounces each. I’m using 18 ounces because at Taco Mac a lot of the customers have earned their stripes and get 20-ounce glasses instead of 16. At $5 to $6 a mug, that works out to $550 to $660 a keg retail, less whatever is lost in foaming, spillage and free samples. Now consider a pony keg of a beer like Hugh Malone. It holds 672 ounces, or about 61 11-ounce servings. At $9.25 a glass, that would be $565, or about the same amount of revenue that the half barrel of an average strength brew yields. This tells you that Allagash charges as much for a pony keg as other brewers do for a half barrel.

Some markup is fine, of course, because this is a specialty brew. By no account is Allagash alone in selling its beers in pony kegs at a premium, either. Yet, other brewers (notably Lagunitas and Bridgeport) sell similar strength beers of exceptional character and quality in half barrels at no appreciable markup.

So, after all that, how was my Allagash Hugh Malone? It arrived a beautiful dark yellow in color with a very thick foamy dense head and a fine layer of Brussels lace clinging to the sides of the glass as the liquid descends. A sniff reveals a huge pine nose, a sip a hint of caramel but it is attenuated by the wheat malt. The hops hit quickly with a massive grapefruit and resin flavor and aroma and a very long, very dry bitterness.

Certainly, Allagash Hugh Malone is all about the hops, and it’s loaded with them. You will not be disappointed in that regard. I didn’t get any Belgian yeast character, though, not to my taste. Perhaps the hops drowned it out, but I want that in a self-described Belgian IPA. I would give this one 4 ½ stars as far as hedonistic enjoyment goes, taking off a half star for lack of Belgian zing and another half for the high price. At this price, I would not buy Hugh Malone again. There are too many other hoppy IPAs at much less cost on the market, and if I want one with good balance between funk and hop I prefer Samuel Adams Grumpy Monk at about half the price, and much prefer locally Three Taverns a Night in Brussels, same style artfully done at $6.50 for a full 20-ounces.



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